Three Years Six months 11days
by pampilot67
Summary: Three years,six months, and eleven {3/6/11} the amount of time Castle has been missing. Suddenly he found, and nothing is the same
1. Chapter 1

Three years, six months and eleven days.

That how long Richard Castle has been gone.

All traces of him have been searched and abandon

* * *

_**T**_he numbers, 3/6/11 are the written on a yellow post-it note attached to Kate's computer screen. The desk it's self is dusty and has not been used in months.

The owner of that desk Lieutenant Kathryn Beckett has been in DC working on a joint task force.

The task force is investigating corruption in Government.

Her former partners change the time on the post-it, in her absence.

In Washington, DC it's the end of the normal work day. For the task force it just the dinner hour, the work never stops.

"_Lieutenant Beckett my office please."_

"_Just a minute I'm on the line with Agent Shaw."_

"_As soon as you finish."_

Five minutes later Kate knocked on the bosses door. Looking up and see the beautiful agent, with the longest legs he had even seen

"_Come in Lieutenant, please sit down."_

"_The Police commissioner of New York has asked to have you returned to their department ASAP. My boss, the one on the hill, has informed me that your being detached as of this minute. Kate you are a very good investigator and I will miss you advice. _

_I know you want to know what's going on but I have no idea what's happening. So go with my thanks for a job well done."_

"_It was a privilege to work with you. I'll miss all the people on this task force."_

"_Please give me your badge, ID, and gun. I'll give you a travel chit to New York. Stay safe Kate."_

Kate gave up her ID, and badge, and gun. Then she handed a package with her New York Police Department ID, badge and gun. Then she left the Hoover building, to go home to pack .

In New York at the ME's office Laine's cell rang.

"_Dr. Parish, New York Medical Examiner's Office."_

"_Very formal girl, This Lieutenant Kathryn Beckett formerly of the Attorney Generals task force on corruption."_

"_Kate what up girl, did you get fired, or something?"_

"_Or something. I'll be back at the__ 12th__ on Monday. I'll see you at lunch and explain what I think is going on."_

"_Will Mr. Tim be at lunch?"_

"_Sorry he's returning to the BAU in DC as we speak."_

"_What are you two planning to do about living arrangements?"_

Smiling Kate blushed and replied.

"_I'll tell you everything I know on Monday. Bye, bye girlfriend."_

Arriving back at the loft she notices it is neat and clean but very quiet. Martha married again living in Yonkers.

Alexis is working on her masters at Columbia Medical Center. She also engaged to Parker Booth, an old family friends son.

Kate toes off her signature high heel booths and starts for the kitchen. Her cell phone starts playing a love song by the Beatles.

"_Hello my love, home already?"_

"_Just came in the door and already missing you, after this weekend."_

"_I wish we were not so far apart."_

"_My feelings too. Are you going to get up to NY soon?"_

"_It will be Tuesday at the earliest. I'm meeting the director on Monday at two (2pm) I have no idea what that is about, so Tuesday seems the earliest I can get away."_

"_Alright stay safe till then, I have something to tell you. You still love me? Your not breaking up with me are you?"_

"_After what you did to me last weekend, I could hardly walk at work on Monday."_

"_I love you too, TTFN."_

"_Same to you, you're a nut, a love nut but still a nut."_

Beckett's cell rang as soon as she hung up from Tom.

"_Detective Lieutenant Beckett."_

"_This is the admission officer at Angle of Mercy Hospital in Gifford Maine. We have you listed as the 'Medical proxy for a Mr. Richard Rogers. Is that correct?"_

"_Are…, are…., are damn I was I was under the impression Mr. Rogers was dead over two years ago." _

"_Well officer Beckett his finger prints and ID show that we have Mr. Rogers, AKA Richard Castle, in our ICU unit at this time."_

"_What condition is he in?"_

"_He is non verbal and does not respond to any of our questions."_

"_How long have you had him and where was he found?"_

"_I can not give out that information over the phone, someone must come here to sign papers to release that information, sorry officer it the '__**Hipper Law'**__."_

After flopping down in the nearest chair. Kate hung up and called the Chief of detectives at 1PP.

"_Chief of detectives Banning speaking, who are you?"_

"_I'm Detective Lieutenant Beckett, NYPD sir."_

"_Beckett what up with you calling me before I get to call you.?"_

"_Sir I just got a call from a hospital in Maine. They state they have Rick Castle in their ER. _

_They want me, as his last listed POA to come up their and make a positive ID."_

"_Is Castle alive, and if so why is he not telling them who he is?"_

"_They said he refuses to speak with anyone but members of the 12__th__ prescient."_

"_Well Lieutenant you better get your assets in gear. By the way Captain Gates being promoted to Deputy Chief of patrol in three weeks. The Chief wants to promote from within the department and you Lieutenant Beckett are on the top of my list."_

**Kate slumped down into the nearest chair. She had a very confused look on her face, and sweat forming on her eyebrow. She was near panic.**

"_Are you alright Kate?"_

"_Chief first my boyfriend just asked me to marry him.__Castle is suddenly found in Maine. _

_Then you tell me I maybe the next Captain of the 12__th__."_

"_Kate I have never met your present boyfriend, I've been told he is a very good Agent. He is going to stay at the BAU, and get his own team. If he has asked you to marry you must decide if you want to stay in New York or move to DC. You can not have both Kate._

_I have a good friend in FBI in DC he's the Deputy Director in charge of Major crime. I'm sure he would give you a job or get you into the Metro Police as a Detective. _

_That said you will be giving up a lot to go to DC. Maybe Tim would like a job in the NYPD IU (Intelligence Unit) instead?"_

"_Thank you Chief but Tim hates New York even to visit. So a job offer from the NYPD is a jester. nice he never would move here. As for me going to DC been their done that and hated it. Tim and I need to talk and decide what changes we need to do. _

_Castle's being found alive brings up a mountain of feeling within me."_

**Kate started to pace the room getting more up tight. **

_I was engaged to him, was about to marry him when he disappeared._

_I have only been with Tim less than a year."_

"_Kate I'll give you all the time I can, but it not that much. If you refuse the promotion I need to fill the place. I'll be honest you are the one the Mayor and the top echelons want. Kate you're headed to be the chief of the NYPD."_

"Boy my day just got so much better, not."

"Go Kate, go home take the time, talk to your friends. Do the heavy thinking on the trip to Maine. Take Javi with you to share the driving."

"_Ok Chief I'll get back to you as soon as I can."_

"_Take care Kate, I'm sure you will make the right decision."_

_Kate left the office and called Javi._

"_Javi, yes it me Beckett , pack a bag we are going to Maine. You will be getting a call from COD, [Chief of Detectives] telling you to go with me to Maine to get Castle."_

"_WE are picking up a body?"_

"_Hold on to your ass, Castle is alive."_

"_Shut the door. Is this a welcome back joke?"_

""_Not a joke Javi, I know Lanie is right beside you tell her she should come to. I'll call COD and get an ok. See you at your apartment in thirty minutes (30). Move it now." _


	2. Chapter 2

Three years, six months and eleven days.

That how long Richard Castle has been gone.

All traces of him have been searched and abandon

…...

"_Javi, yes it me Beckett , pack a bag we are going to Maine. You will be getting a call from COD, [Chief of Detectives] telling you to go with me to Maine to get Castle."_

"_WE are picking up a body?" "Hold on to your ass, Castle is alive."_

_ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ_

At exact thirty (30_m_) minutes Kate pulled up to Javi's, apartment. Javi and Lanie were standing outside with a bag each. They both seemed confused. The same SUV given to her by Martha , after Ric was gone a year.

"_Hi gang already to go?"_

"_Seeing that this in on orders and we're paid, were treating this as a vacation. I think this may turn into nightmare."_

"_Ok Beck what the hells going on. We're ordered to accompany you to Maine to pick up a man who has been dead for over three years. What the story?"_

"_The Maine State Police found a man on the side of the road, near frozen to death. In his sock was a license and a medical ID, in the name of Richard Castle of New York. On the medical card I was named as his POA. I have not changed my number in the three years since Rick went missing._

_I was called by the hospital. They also notified NYPD that he was found. The COD told me three things, not in this order._

_Number #1: I'am ordered to go to Maine ,with Javi to pick up Castle._

_Number #2: I was separated from the task force in Washington._

_Number #3: I am going to be made the Captain of the 12__th__ prescient. Also I am told I'm being groomed to bigger things in the NYPD._

_Finally Tim asked me to marry him."_

"_Did you say yes to anything you just mention?'_

_Becket turned bright and studded an answer no one understood._

"_I..ma.. Hav..sai…yes to ."_

"_Beckett say that again in English."_

**Still bright and very red she replied after taking several deep breaths.**

"_I have said yes to ALL of them. The problem with that is the new job offer, and Castle being found, I'm so fuck-up in my mind."_

"_Kate talk it out, you have many friends."_

"_You know how my feelings for Rick was before he disappeared. _

_He brought me out of the hole, pit if you must, into the like. He made me happy, and fun. He helped he find my Mother killer and more. That day seeing hic car on fire m in that ditch, my heart died. I searched for two years try to find him._

_I found nothing, he was gone._

_It was only then that I ,with the help, and comfort of my family, and friends, started dating. This led to meeting Tim and having enough feeling to allow me to say yes to his asking me to marring him.'_

**Kate pulled her car to the side of the road. Her tears flowed down her cheeks.**

"_Javi can you drive, my emotions and being over tired."_

"_No problem I wanted to stretch my legs anyway." _

Kate got into the backseat with Lanie. Lanie wrapped her arms around Kate and spoke softly to her as Espo drove north.

Speaking softly Kate started to explain her feelings. She told Lanie how Rick broke down all the barriers she built up after her mother's death. She said she was dead inside till he arrived.

Finally admitting she loved him, saying yes when he asked her to become her one and done.

Kate said she was never as happy as she was on her wedding day, and how crushed she was on his disappearance.

She told Lanie how deep she fell in to the rabbit hole she fell looking for Castle. How after two years she finally decided that Rick was either dead or he ran away from her for some unthinkable reason.

Finally after taking the task force job she met Tim Rogerson. Tim was a BAU profile, from Quantico.

He never forced information out of her. He awaken feeling she thoughts died with Rick. After a few months of informal dates she accepted a formal date. She grew to love Tim as she loved Rick. She said the day he asked her to marry him she almost had a heart attack. After the swimming stopped in her head she said yes. Them the call from the task force leader things went down hill. After spilling her guts Kate fell asleep. She slept till they entered Gilford Maine.

"Kate honey were here at the hospital."

"This is Angle of Mercy Hospital, not much to look at."

"Come on lets find Castle, and take him home. "I'm more than a little emotionally confused about what we will find.

I just got my mind-set that he was dead. I put everything about him behind. Now he maybe alive, what do I do now."

Spoke as she stepped away from the car. The other teo followed each deep in their own thoughts.

"Lets made sure it's him first."

The three walked into the main entrance to ask the location of Castle.

The hospital administrators were happy at the thought of finally getting some people who knew Rick and could get some answers about his treatment. After signing papers they are taken to a private room where Rick was.

"Entering the room behind the charge nurse the are set back by Rick condition.

The old Rick was six feet two inches tall, He weighted about one hundred nightly pounds and had brown hair.

This Rick looked the right height, but he seen to weigh less than one hundred forty pounds. He was as bald as a bowling ball.

All three sucked in their breath. Kate quickly turned her heat to te nurse


	3. Chapter 3

Three years, six months and eleven days.

That how long Richard Castle has been gone.

All traces of him have been searched and abandon

…...

Rick started to Kiss Kate she turned her head slightly so the kiss fell on her cheek. After a quick kiss the pulled apart and looked eye to eye for a few moments . They spoke to each other with their eyes . It was quick but understood what the other wanted. In Kate's eyes she saw sadness, and love, and fear. Also he saw the look to run. In Rick's eyes Kate saw love, then fear, then loss. Rick was the first to speak..

_ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ_

"_Kate I missed you so much. You and I need to talk alone please."_

"_That ok with me but we need official answered to the questions about you disappearance."_

"_The first question is where have you been?"_

"_I have lived in cabin in the woods, within eyesight of water._

_Two or three days a go in the night I smelled smoke. The cabin filled with smoke. I found the only window I had access to in the bathroom. I used the toilet cover and smashed the window out. As soon as I was out I ran until I was so tired my legs gave out. I laid on the side of the road. Many cars drove by but I so cold I COULD NOT LIFT MY ARE."_

"_Stop Rick your to getting upset. Lets take a few and someone needs to get drinkable coffee. Javi I hate to ask but can you find coffee. Lanie could you get with the medical people and see where he stands, __**I'll stay here and give him time to cool down."**_

After agreeing to speak to the medical staff, Lanie starting of the events that just happened in the room. Two things came to the top to the list The kiss, Kate turning just before contact, ton make it less personal. The second was to last words of her statement.'I'll stay here and give **HIM** time to cool down."Since when did Kate Beckett call Richard Castle, her fiancé, the love of her life for ever, HIM. On the way back to Kate's room she could hear the sounds of two people speaking very load. What she heard she wish she did not.

In the room Both people were standing facing each other. Both were bright red in the face, both had fists clenched ready for battle.

_"Kate, Rick your speaking so they can hear you at the nurse's station."_

"_Get her the hell out of my room before I do, or say something no one can fix."_

"_Alright I'll leave. It's you who needs to answer the questions about the last three years, not me."_

"_I was a captive I could not do what I wanted. You were free to do as you wanted, that fucking ring tell it all. Get out I'll talk to Esposito, Detective."_

"_It's Lieutenant Beckett Mr. Castle."_

"_Good for you, who you sleep with to get that?"_

Lanie and Javi both grabbed Kate and forced her back into the hall. Kate with sorrowful look on her face broke in tears, the second time in 12 hours. Crying was nothing Kate Beckett did, to break down twice in a matter of hours was world shaking. Calming slightly she allowed Lanie to walk to a room families are talked to by MD after a loss.

Javi closed the door. Lanie nodded that he should wait outside. He moved quietly out to the hall at the door he stopped.

"_I'll find some coffee, and tea for us it's going to take more time than we thought."_

Wiping her hand down her hair Lanie ask the first question.

"_What wrong with you baby?_

"_I'm alright just tired."_

"_Like hell I have only seen you cry twice. You cried when your mother was killed. You shed a tear when we were first brought Captain Monterey to the centenary. The last time you truly cried was when you saw Castles car on fire, in the ditch. So what up, tell me now."_

"_I don't know. First I going to marry my one and done. Then, then the dress get destroyed. The place we are to get married in has a fire. Then the fake husband shows up and we run around the country to clear it up. _

_Then Rick car crash and he disappears. Three years and six months. I was sure he was dead, I changed my life._

_Two months after I become engaged, he shows up alive in MAINE, for god sake."_

"_Easy Kate we'll straight it out."_

"_Straight it out, straight it out, how in hell am I going to straight it out? I spent 20 or more hours a day chasing down every lead we or the FBI ever had. I did this because I loved him. It was only after those two years I gave in to the consent harping that he was dead, that I stopped. _

_I went to DC for the task-force to get away from everything that reminded me of him. I even change the way I dress and the style of my hair._

_When I went into that room it all went to hell."_

"_Kate you are going to quiet yourself down. You should not be here. Rick almost was you husband, it almost tore you apart, when he disappeared. You have done your professional duty you have identify him as the real Richard Castle. Call the FBI and let them they take the cast, it what you need to do."_

Just then Javi knocked on the door

"_The the feds are here. It an old friend neither of you are going to be happy,"_

"_WHO Javi?"_

"_**William Sorenson, out of Major crimes DC. **_

Pushing thru the door was the devil himself.

"_Will what are you doing here?"_

"_Well the local Sheriff notified the local FBI unit, they checked in with Boston, they called DC. "_

"_And up pops Special agent __**William Sorenson**_

"_Yup, lucky me."_

Kate and Lanie sat and drank their drinks while Javi fill in Will. Neither of the woman spoke during the entire debrief.

The story roll out like a 'B' class movie. A black SUV forced Castles car to stop on the road.

The SUV had emergency lights in the grill. Two men in black suits pull him out of the car, handcuff him and put him into the backseat. They turned his car and some how, he not sure how, pushed it off the road. He said they put a hood over his head as they pushed the cat over the edge.

He said they took him some ware to an old farm. The question him about his early days with the CIA, and when he had dealings with Soirée. They used only chemicals and constant questing. He thinks one of the other was smoking in bed and set the house on fire. He did not look back to see if anyone else escape.

"_What were you doing in the time between the time your taken, and the time you escaped."_

"_Some times, I was allowed to walk around the farm, with one of the men watching me. Other times I was kept in a back room for days."_

"_What did they want from you. It can't be time sensitive, not to wait over three years. What could you as a summer employee see that this many years later be important?"_

Sorenson stood and walked up to Kate_._

"_Kate my people have seacherd up and down the coast for a burnt cabin. So far we have come up empty. Kate some thing is wrong with this whole story, the FBI is going to take over the case. NYPD has requested involvement, via you. Can you do it?"_

Kate slowly sat down in a chair and put both hands to her face.


End file.
